ttyymmnn Got me thinking...

[Roundbadge]

Pretty sure it was this image that was posted to Jalop or Oppo a few years ago (I found it most recently on the r/akron subreddit). Malaise-era rust-belt-mall-parking-lot greatness. This pic was taken on Christmas Eve, 1982. That mall in the background. the Rolling Acres mall in Akron OH, fell into horrendous disrepair before being refurbished razed recently by that great savior of the world, Amazon. It's now a fulfillment center.

Personally, I'd have either the 510 wagon or the K5 Blazer next to it.

[BicycleBuck]

What is going on here? We DID have color photography in 1982. Did someone decide to go all artistic on a photo of a parking lot?

[RacinBob]

Hardly an import in sight.... I see a Toyota (Supra?) at 7:00, the Datsun at 9:00. There's a Rabbit at 6:00 although that one was assembled probably in Pennsylvania. Heck there are as many Chevettes in the picture as true imports.....

Must have been pretty lonely to be an import car dealer in Akron back in 1982. The thing was back then at 15 years old, all of those cars would be rusted and worn out. How the world has changed.

[facw]

@bicyclebuck I don't know if it's the explanation here, but newspapers generally didn't print in color (the New York Times was a bit of a holdout, making the switch in 1997). As a result, newspaper photographers (some of the most prolific shooters) often didn't shoot in color long after you'd thought they would have, because their work wouldn't ever be printed in color.

[e90m3]

@roundbadge The most amazing thing is the fact that if you cropped out the cars and I could just see the building, I could be convinced that it was taken in 2020.

[BicycleBuck]

@facw said in ttyymmnn Got me thinking...:

@bicyclebuck I don't know if it's the explanation here, but newspapers generally didn't print in color (the New York Times was a bit of a holdout, making the switch in 1997). As a result, newspaper photographers (some of the most prolific shooters) often didn't shoot in color long after you'd thought they would have, because their work wouldn't ever be printed in color.

Ah. I didn't consider the source.

Contrary to popular belief, our world transitioned from black and white to color sometime in the 1930s.

[facw]

@bicyclebuck I should add that the Sunday cartoons (and ads!) were a pretty big exception to the whole black and white printing thing.

[Roundbadge]

@racinbob If you find the Econoline van on the right side, go straight up and you'll see a LUV. Also spotted a Beetle in the upper LH corner.

[facw]

Google apparently had some Street View driver waste their time driving around the parking lot of the abandoned mall in 2015:

But yeah, as of last year, that building is gone:

[Skyfire77]

@e90m3 Well, Penney's in 2020 looks like this:

[fintail]

Maybe the Chet Ripley/Leo Marvin style Grand Wagoneer at lower center-right. Several rows "up" from it, my eyes are drawn to a Ford EXP for some reason.

[fintail]

@bicyclebuck Funny, when I was a little kid, I actually thought that b&w to color transition was a real thing, but it took place around 1960.

[RacinBob]

@facw There is another reason shooters liked black and white. It was far easier to develop and print. Also cheaper.

Why bother to shoot in color if it is all going to go to greyscale anyway!

[BicycleBuck]

@facw said in ttyymmnn Got me thinking...:

@bicyclebuck I should add that the Sunday cartoons (and ads!) were a pretty big exception to the whole black and white printing thing.

That was my favorite section of the newspaper when I was a kid. It was my job to either go get a paper from the corner store (when we lived in town) or retrieve the paper from the end of the driveway (when we lived in the country). Being the retriever, I got first dibs on the cartoons. There wasn't really anyone else to compete with, but I knew that they were mine!

[CobraJoe]

Is that a Mercury LN7?

That would have been brand new in '82, and discontinued in '83 after selling only 40,000. That makes it a pretty rare bird.

[Skyfire77]

@cobrajoe Oh god those wheels why.....

[ibRAD]

@skyfire77 I would totally rock those wheels on my Echo

[Huzer]

@cobrajoe Unless it's the less rare EXP.

[Huzer]

@fintail

[Roundbadge]

@cobrajoe I think you're right. I'm reading that the EXP was a notchback while the LN7 had the bubble-style rear canopy. I only remembered the front fascia of the EXP off the top of my head...had to go to Google for the rest.

[CobraJoe]

@huzer As far as I can tell, the '82 EXP didn't have the bubble back hatch that the LN7 did. I know the bubble back was added to the EXP in the mid '80s though.

(And I'm not sure about that fact, or if the pic shows a bubble back, but the EXP glass looks really flat).

[CobraJoe]

@roundbadge Same here, a lot of googling. (Though I have seen an EXP for sale once... 10 years ago)

[Skyfire77]

@huzer Calvin's dad is the troll all others measure themselves against.

[Shop-Teacher]

@roundbadge I see two K5 Blazers, and a full size Bronco. I say yes to any of those.

[Highlander]

@roundbadge I used to buy all my clothes at JC Penny, until about 1988.